Rocking device.



No. 839,295. PATENTED DEC. 25, 1906.

S. A. JONES.

ROCKING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED A'UG.16, 1906.

W1 TNESSES:

INVENTIOR r A TTOR/VEYS UNITED STATES "PATENT OFFICE.

s'IMEoN A. JONES, OF CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, AssIGNoRoF ONE-THIR TO LOUISWOKOUN, or CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA.

ROCKING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 25, 1906.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SIMEON A. JONES, acitizen of the United States, residin at Cedar Rapids, in the county ofLinn an State of Iowa, have invented anew and useful Rocking Device, ofwhich the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to mechanisms for rocking cradles and otherdevices; and it relates more particularly to a mechanism of thischaracter in which a pair of propellers are employed to alternatelyengage'the floor and exert an upward thrust, so that the article towhich they are applied will rock back and forth in a regular continuousmanner.

The invention has for one of its objects to provide a rocking device ofthis character in which two rotary propellers are employed in connectionwith a suitable drivin mechanism for simultaneously rotating t epropelers.

A further object of the invention is to adjustably mountthe device on arocker, so that the efiective range of rocking may be adjusted at will.

Another object of the invention is the employment of a means, such as abowed spring, on the under side of the rocker for assisting inpreventing the cradle, chair, or other device from being upset. Withthese objects in view and others, as will appear as the nature of theinvention is better understood, the invention comprises the variousnovel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will bemore fully described hereinafter and set forth with particularity in theclaims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one of the embodiments ofthe invention, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a rocker, such as may beused on a cradle, chalr, or other suitable artlcle of furnlture orapparatus to be rocked. The rocking device may be mounted on the rockerin any suitable manner. By preference, however, the

rocker is recessed at one side and the mechanism set in. The recess 2 iscentrally located, and the open side thereof is closed by a cover-plate3, secured in any suitable manner, as by screws 4:. Located within therecess 2, so as to move vertically therein, is the frame of thepropelling mechanism, the same comprising a front plate 5, a rear plate6, and screws or bolts 7, securely holding the'plates spaced apart; Therear plate 6 1s provided with a lug 8 or other suitable means, on

arbor 11,.carrying a large gear-wheel 12,' which drives correspondingtrains of gears located on opposite sides thereof. Each train of gearsconsists of a inion 13, meshing with the main gear-whee and ke ed to ashaft 14, on which is rigidly secure the second gear-wheel 15. mesheswith a pinion 16 on the shaft 18, to which the ropeller is attached. Thefront end of the ower shaft 18 is squared, so as to receive thepropeller 19.

point suitably close to the floor, so that the pro ellers 19 may becomparatively short an at the same time be in proper relation to thefloor.

The arbor 11 is driven by a stiff coil-spring 20, that is anchored atits outer end on the post 21, while its inner end is rigidly secured tothe arbor. The outer end of the arbor is squared, so as to receive a keyor crank for turning the arbor to wind the spring. The

usual ratchet-wheel 22 and pawl 23 are em-.

ployed between the main gear-wheel 12 and its arbor for facilitating thewinding of the spring. The ends of the arbor 11 and shafts 14 and 18 aremounted in apertures in the front and rear plates of thesupporting-frame.

The gear-wheel 15 The propeller-car rying shafts are rotated on theframe at a The motor mec anism is of The front end of the arbor isaccessible through an opening 24 in the cover-plate 3, said openingbeing elongated in a vertical direction, so as to provide for thevertical adjustment of the motor-mechanism-supporting frame.

The propellers 19 each comprises a straight lever mounted at its centerupon its respective shaft 18, and the ends thereof are provided withantifriction-rollers 26. The propellers are arranged so that their majoraxes will always be at an angle of ninety degrees with respect to eachother, and they are rotated simultaneously in the same direction. Bythis arrangement one end of one propeller will be just engaging thefloor when the corresponding end of the other propeller is leaving thefloor, so that the propellers act alternately to give the rocker animpulse.

In order to prevent the propellers from revolving when the rocker israised bodily off the floor and the motor from thereby needlesslyrunning down, the propellers are each provided with acentrifugally-acting dog 27, normally held in an inoperative position bya spring 28 on the propeller, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. On themotor-frame at a point adjacent each propeller is a stop 29, with whichthe outer end of the dog is adapted to engage when the speed reaches acertain point, so as to thereby arrest the motion of the propellers.

Suitably secured on the bottom of the rocker is a leaf-spring 30, thatis bowed on an arch slightly greater than the convexity of the rocker,so that the outer end portions of the spring are'normally spaced asuitable distance away from the under side of the rocker when the latteris in a central position. The spring is secured at its center to thecenter of the rocker, and the free ends thereof are compressible towardthe rocker when the weight thereof bears upon them. To hold the springunder tension and to prevent the spring from unbowing, the extremitiesare formed'into hooks 31, which engage the endsof the rocker, as shown.By this arrangement as the rocker moves back and forth from one side tothe other the ends of the spring 30 yield as the weight of the rockerand attached parts is brought to bear thereon, and the tension of thespring acts to prevent the rocker from tilting too far.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, the advantages of the construction-and of themethod of operation will be readily appreciated. In operation the spring20 is first wound, so as to simultaneously drive the two trains of gearsfor rotating the propellers 19. The propellers are so arranged that asthey rotate their corresponding ends are brought alternately intoengagement with they floor, so that the rocker is first tilted to oneside by one propeller and then to the opposite side by the otherpropeller. In this way the rocker will be oscillated back and forthcontinuously until the energy of the spring is expended. The amplitudeof oscillation of the rocker can be varied by adjusting themotormechanism frame to different heights by means of theadjusting-screw 9. By so adjusting the frame the centers about which thepropellers rotate will be moved closer to or farther from the floor,thereby varying the effective propelling relation between the floor andpropellers.

I have described the rinciple of operation of the invention, togetlierwith the apparatus which I now consider to be the best embodimentthereof; but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown ismerely illustrative and that various changes may be made when desired asare within the scope of the invention. i

What is claimed is,

1. The combination with a rocker, of a plurality of rotary floorengaging propellers mounted thereon, and a mechanism arranged on therocker to rotate the propellers continuously in one direction.

2. The combination with a rocker, of a lurality of rotatablefloor-engaging rope lers on the rocker each arranged to a ternatelyengage the floor with its extremities for oscillating the rocker, amechanism supported on motor mechanism thereon, means for adjus,t-

ing the said mechanism vertically with respect to the rocker, propellersconnected with and actuated by the said mechanism and associatedtherewith for vertical adjustment.

5. The combination with a rocker recessed at one side, of a motormechanism adjustably mountedin the recess, propellers driven by the saidmechanism, and a cover secured to the rocker for closing the open sideof the recess.

6. The combination with a rocker, of propellers, a mechanism foractuating the propellers, and a spring located under the rocker andattached thereto with its end portions normally spaced apart from therocker.

7. The combination with a rocker, of propellers, a mechanism foractuating the propellers, a spring located under the rocker and attachedthereto with its end portions nor mally spaced apart from the rocker,and a device at the extremities of the spring which engage the rocker tohold the spring nor- In testimony that I claim the foregoing as mallyunder tension. my own I have hereto affixed my signature in 8. Thecombination with a rocker, of a pair the presence of two witnesses. ofpropellers rotatably mounted thereon, a SIMEON A. JONES. 5 mechanism onthe rocker for rotating the Witnesses:

propellers, and devices on the propellers for ERNEST R. MOORE,

limiting the speed of rotation thereof. GEORGE W. SWAB.

